Opener C.R. Gnaneshwar was a picture of confidence as he notched up his second half-century in his third game to help Andhra score a very healthy 207 for three in reply to Hyderabad’s 271 on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group-B match at the Dr. PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex here on Monday.
It was an innings of maturity and wonderful stroke selection from the 21-year-old Gnaneshwar, who hit a century on debut against Himachal Pradesh this season. He looked good for a second one before he was surprised by one from Ajay Dev Goud that stopped a bit and had extra bounce and gave a simple catch to mid-on.
Non-threatening
Surprisingly, the Hyderabad pace attack of Chama Milind, Ravi Teja and debutant Goud never really threatened to take wickets in the morning session. Only after tea did both Ravi and Milind generate extra pace and movement to test the batsmen.
Milind then unleashed quite a few bouncers, with one of them hitting Jyothsaikrishna nastily just above the left forearm, before having the batsman caught in a leg-side trap with another steepler.
Otherwise there was nothing much to rave about Hyderabad’s bowling with even the spinners — left-armer Mehdi Hasan and offie Saaketh Sai Ram — not posing any serious challenge.
Sasikanth’s haul
Earlier, pacer K.V. Sasikanth completed a second consecutive five-wicket haul to ensure Hyderabad, resuming at 226 for seven, didn’t cross the 300-mark despite some lusty blows by Mehdi.
The scores:
Hyderabad — 1st innings: Tanmay Agarwal b Prithvi Raj 44, Thakur Tilak Varma b Sasikanth 5, Akshath Reddy c Bharat b Sasikanth 57, B. Sandeep b Girinath Reddy 33, Himalay Agarwal c Aiyyappa b Sasikanth 59, T. Ravi Teja c Hebbar b Prithvi Raj 1, K.S.K. Chaitanya b Girinath Reddy 6, Saaketh Sai Ram c Jyothisaikrishna b Sasikanth 23, C.V. Milind b Sasikanth 6, Ajay Dev Goud (not out) 0, Mehdi Hasan c Girinath b Prithvi Raj 25; Extras (nb-5, w-3, b-4): 12; Total (in 90.3 overs): 271.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-73, 3-145, 4-145, 5-146, 6-182, 7-226, 8-240, 9-241.
Andhra bowling: Ayyappa 19-2-64-0, Sasikanth 24-6-64-5, Prithvi Raj Yarra 24.3-9-72-3, Girinath 6-2-7-2, Shoaib 16-1-52-0, Jyothisaikrishna 1-0-8-0.
Andhra — 1st innings: C.R. Gnaneshwar c Ravi Teja b Ajay Dev 65, D.B. Prashanth Kumar c Tanmay b Ravi Teja 32, Jyothisaikrishna c Sandeep b Milind 38, Ricky Bhui (batting) 49, K.S. Bharat (batting) 14; Extras (nb-4, w-1, lb-4): 9; Total (for three wkts., in 76 overs): 207.
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-120, 3-166.
Hyderabad bowling: Milind 20-3-46-1, Ajay Dev 12-2-29-1, Ravi Teja 14-5-35-1, Mehdi 21-9-47-0, Saaketh 7-0-35-0, Sandeep 2-0-11-0.
